The Sociofunctional Model of Prejudice: Questioning the Role of Emotions in the Threat-Behavior Link

Abstract

The sociofunctional model of prejudice (Cottrell & Neuberg, 2005) states that behaviors toward an outgroup are determined by emotions felt toward this outgroup, and that those emotions are determined by threats this group represents for one’s own group. Although widely cited in literature, this intuitively appealing model is not as supported as sometimes assumed. In fact, seminal data supporting the model have not been replicated, and the mediating role of emotions in the threat-behavior link remains in need of empirical evidence. Two studies were aimed at filling this gap by measuring specific threats, emotions and their associated behavioral intentions. Our results provide mixed support for the sociofunctional model. We found evidence of the threat-emotion, the threat-behavior and the emotion-behavior links described in this model, but only partial support for the mediational role of emotion in the threat-behavior link.